Railway cattle-guard



(No Model.)

P. MERRILL.

RAILWAY CATTLE GUARD.

1 10. 446,601. Patented Feb. 17,1891.

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Witnezssas:

ms NORnls PETERS co., wow-mum. WASNINGTQN, u. c.

UNlTlED Srnrns PARKER MERRILL, OF

Parana triers.

ST. LOUIS, llllOlllGAN.

RAILWAY CATTLE GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 446,601, dated February 17, 1891.

Application filed September 2'7, 1890. Serial No. 366,355. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PARKER MERRILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, county of Gratiot, State of lllichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Cattle'Guards, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railway cattle-guards employing guard-bars elevated above the ties.

The object of the invention is to construct the guard so that it may be secured to the tie with spikes at the ends of the section at any point desired within the width of the sec= tion, thus obviating the necessity for extralength ties to make fastening-places for the sections outside the rails; and a further object is to provide for safety by having only part of the guard-bars secured to the centerbeam and by placing a fulcrumed platform at the approach to the guard, said platform being provided with side levers which Support the same at their front ends, the rear ends of which lovers are carried laterally beneath the guard-bars and are provided with upward projections which would be thrown up as signals of warning if an animal should step upon the platform, all as hereinafter described.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a plan showing one sec tion of the'guard in position, the. full guard being composed of four like sections. Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing the end of the sec tion at which the fulcrumed platform is attached. Fig. 3 is a broken perspective of a lettered detail.

Referringto the lettered parts of the d rawings, a a are thelongitudinal guard-bars. These guard-bars are separated from each other and have a space between them and the upper surface of the ties sufficient to be noticed by an animal should it approach the guard. 1n the construction of a guard to show the said space is considered a very essential point, as animals do not like to go upon a metal grating that is elevated sulficiently to show a space beneath. The guardbars Ct at here shown are T-bars lying upon their sides upon the upper surface of the transverse beams B, of which there are three for each section, and they rest upon the upper surface of the ties. In this position the T-bar covers more space horizontally in widththan in any other. One fault of many metallie guards now in use is the small or thin bar, which the animal does not notice before it steps upon the guard,while with the T-bar in this position a large angled and notched surface is shown by a bar of light weight. The guard-bars are bent down to the tie at their ends outside the terminal beams, and are secured to the beams with rivets i.

D D are cross-bars which lit in the depressions c on the outside of the guard-bars at their ends, and are clamped against the guard-bars by bolts at through holes 25 and are secured to the beams 13. The guard is secured to the ties with spikes that may catch over the bolts a or on the plate D. At the center beam of each section every alternate guard-bar may be left unsecured to the beam, so that in case the feet of an animal are forced between them the loose one will be sprung to oneside to free it, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

At F is shown a fulcrumed platform at the end of the guard which stock would first approach, and it is attached to the end of the lever E, which lever is pivoted by the bolt 00, attached to the end of the transverse beam B. The opposite end of the lever-E is carried laterally beneath the guardbars and is attached to a similar lever on the opposite side of the section. The part of the lever beneath the guard-bars is marked 71, and has attached to it upright projections 1), which may be painted any color, and may come up between the guardbars as high as desirable. \Vhen an animal depresses the platform F, the projections t; are elevated above the surface of the guard, as shown by dotted line in Fig. 2. \Vhen the animal steps off the platform, the lever and projections drop to their normal position.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a cattle-guard, the combination of T- bars elevated above the ties and lying upon their sides with two or more transverse beams that rest upon the ties, said T-bars resting upon and secured to the upper surface of said transverse beams, substantially as set forth.

2. In a cattle-guard, the combination of ele- IOO ! ing the guard should step upon the platform tlle latter would trip and the projections would be thrown up as signals of warning, substantially as set forth.

In testimony of the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name in presence of two witnesses. l

PARKER MERRILL.

\Vitnesses:

BELLE O. FREEMAN,

L. N. BURKE. 

